Adopting a cloud strategy can provide your business with unparalleled support for performance, agility, and security. For this reason, organizations worldwide are making their transitions to the cloud at increasingly growing rates. Embracing cloud applications, IT technology teams across several industries are expanding their companies’ dependence on the cloud. However, cloud adoption requires much more than a grasp of the advantages offered by cloud technology.
Before relocating digital assets and operations to the cloud, every business must create a cloud strategy suited to their needs. Making the switch to the cloud from on-premises datacenters is not always as seamless and straightforward as many assume. And so, a comprehensive and flexible cloud strategy that meets expanding customer demand for additional cloud-based experienced is essential. Moreover, by generating a practical, full-scale cloud computing roadmap, the risks, costs, and complications associated with cloud adoption can be minimized — allowing businesses to operate in more productive and formulaic ways.
Evaluate Your Current IT State
Before a business can begin creating its comprehensive cloud strategy, it must first evaluate its IT environment’s current state. In other words, your organization must have an in-depth understanding of its existing IT infrastructure. For many companies, a transition to the cloud means leaving behind a whole host of inconveniences that correspond to on-premises data centers, including:
- Capabilities that do not add value
- Costly to acquire and obtain security
- High up-front costs (which make this IT environment high risk)
- Lacking consistent business alignment
- Long time to value
At this juncture, it is also essential that your company consider its IT capabilities. The size, region, and global footprint of your business all impact its existing IT state. Furthermore, it is also essential to consider whether your enterprise is an established business or a new startup. Evaluating your current IT environment will allow you to best determine whether your company is currently well-positioned to transition to and invest in cloud technology.
Construct Your Cloud Computing Roadmap
According to Information Week, the goal of constructing a cloud computing roadmap “shouldn’t be developing the optimal cloud strategy, but determining how cloud technologies will best match the enterprise’s business strategy.” The roadmap that you create should be distinct to your business’s needs, with the flexibility and scalability to grow with you. Your approach should be informed by your business’ circumstances and its current investments, as cloud adoption will fundamentally alter how your organization functions. And so, it is crucial to consider the current state of your company’s people, processes, and technology.
Moreover, it would be best if you prioritized your cloud-bound applications. It may be advantageous to leverage a single management platform that will organize and oversee the entire cloud environment, like Thalaam — SpeelYaal’s modern enterprise computing platform that focuses offers seamless multi-cloud adoption.
Service Strategy
When constructing the cloud strategy most suitable for your business, you must determine the role that cloud technology will play for your company. This will allow your organization’s IT leadership to establish when to use public cloud provider services or those built internally. More often than not, enterprises will opt for a hybrid cloud strategy. Many businesses cannot afford the expenses associated with fully adopting either a public cloud strategy or a private cloud strategy. However tricky, deciding when to leverage a public cloud and the providers you’ll work with are vital and continuous cloud adoption elements.
Viable Financial Options
It is essential to recognize the financial repercussions of cloud adoption when devising a cloud strategy. Consulting with your business’s finance leadership, you must review the viable financial options available to your company regarding cloud adoption, evaluating issues of budgeting, cost transparency, predictability, and visibility.
Usually supported by an operating expense model rather than a capital expense model, the cloud can significantly impact your business’s financial profile. Thus, to generate a successful, comprehensive cloud strategy, it is crucial to look outside your company’s IT department and make informed funding decisions.
Integrating your cloud experience among multiple cloud providers, Thalaam provides unmatched cost control and empowers users to manage existing cloud infrastructure as cloud. Visit our website today to review our cloud cost visualizer.
Standards
At the heart of your business are your standards and guidelines for operation. Thus, it is essential to outline these when constructing your cloud strategy explicitly. Whether your organization prioritizes a ‘cloud-first,’ ‘best of breed,’ or ‘buy before build’ approach, highlighting your standards in your cloud adoption plan will undoubtedly positively impact your cloud strategy.
Popularly recommended for most organizations, cloud-first means that the cloud should be pursued as a primary option for all new business and technology initiatives, preferably through public cloud utilization. And so, clearly expressing your business’s ‘cloud-first’ approach can supply enhanced efficiency, allowing your entire team to live on the same page.
Inventory
Ideally applied workload by workload, a cloud strategy requires an inventory assessment. “It is helpful to gather a summary of information for each workload, including meta characteristics such as name, owner[,] and vendor, as well as performance characteristics. Performance characteristics can be rated on a spectrum (from unpredictable to well-behaved) to determine whether a workload is a good candidate for cloud.”
A website or mobile application could be considered unpredictable workloads. Alternatively, an enterprise application already operating steadily and efficiently in your data center won’t gain as much from cloud adoption.
Security
Although IT leadership has been historically cautious of trusting public cloud security, many organizations have become excessively unwary of and reliant on public cloud providers. Top-tier cloud vendors undoubtedly do well to secure their services, but the responsibility of safeguarding applications and data falls on the client.
Thus, the key is to build a cloud strategy that aligns well with your business’s comprehensive security strategy. For example, your cloud strategy should outline governance, as well as procedures for ensuring compliance. And to oblige to the many realities often presented by the cloud, your organization may, at times, be forced to make adjustments to its security strategy.
Establishing Support
Without a doubt, IT plays a central role in developing and constructing a best-fit cloud strategy. However, a successful cloud strategy won’t be built in a vacuum. Company leadership, across all departments, should be involved in devising a cloud computing roadmap, eliminating many risks and costs associated with cloud projects. To take advantage of the full potential offered by cloud computing, your cloud strategy must address critical problems faced by your business. A successful transition to the cloud will transform the company, impacting architectural and technical issues, data center strategies, and organizational concerns.
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